Social Awareness And Advancement

Edited by Darat: 
Content removed - breach of Rule 4/
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Has it now been decided that one is also prohibited to post copyrighted material in its entirety if one is the copyright holder? :confused:

Since Rule 4 is now being applied to images as well, how is anyone supposed to post their own pictures?
 
As admin:

I apologise for removing the text under Rule 4, I did not check to see if the site belonged to yourself. If you provide a link to the article on your website I will edit it into the OP.
 
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TragicMonkey said:
"To critically think" is a split infinitive.

Critical enough?
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Nope. You forgot to account for the fact that English doesn't have rules, but guidelines. (Arrrrr!) Infinitives get split all the time. Star Trek would na be the same wi'out it, lad.

Why, we even use prepositions to end sentences with. And we begin with contractions. Sentence fragments? Use them all the time.

Making English usage rigid is what makes people hate English. They're smart enough, they read, and they know the things we tell them not to do get done by highly paid authors all the time.

If I get to student teach this fall, my theme for my classes will be "context." In the proper context, one can do almost anything. :)
 
Here is the original post, I tried sending it in PM but it was too long.

Social Science And Critical Thinking

The key in understanding social problems and how to eliminate them to advance civilization is to be both educated in social science and to poses the ability to critically think. In this article we will explain a few extremely important psychological phenomena and their relation to vital social health, we will also discuss the importance of critical thinking and objectivity in attaining vital social health. It is important to note that even the average citizen needs to be educated in the concepts of this article at a relatively young age to reach both optimal social health as an individual, and proper identity with his society.

Objectivity And Socialization

Socialization is a psychological term to describe the process of learning the behavior patterns that are in conformity to the values of one's society or group. To put it simply, when one is fully socialized in his society or group he shares and acts on common values to what is accepted in that society or group to which he belongs, and likewise, opposes himself to ideas that are not acceptable to them. Therefore, if the social standards that he adheres to bring error in some way or another he then has great trouble being objective to come to the proper decision, even if he is a very intelligent person. He will usually still believe he is right on the matter at hand, but that is because he is blinded by unhealthy socialization. The precise reason why he is unable to react to this opposing situation objectively is because of a defense mechanism being activated in his brain in response to the offense of his beliefs, beliefs which conformed to his socialization. Ultimately, the key is to socialize our citizens into becoming objective and critical thinkers (pardon the redundancy). This will naturally promote social health of the community and psychological freedom for each individual. Some psychologists originally thought that the true self of an individual was subconsciously and constantly battling his socialized personality. Though this usually may be true in present and past societies, a person who is completely aware of all these psychological phenomena that come to play then has the opportunity to distinguish and express the truth is if his ability to apply critical thought is advanced enough. This isn't to say that it can't be done without psychological knowledge, as many individuals have proven throughout time by knowing one's self (at least to a significant degree), but with this knowledge brings faster and more precise learning of self and community. In the end, bias or erroneous socialization is one of the main factors in social regression, especially when individuals who have a "feeling" personality type are in the picture as opposed to a "thinking" personality type.

Psychological Defense Mechanism

Earlier we mentioned an instance of the activation of a defense mechanism and it is important to have a fair grasp on the workings of these. Though psychological defense mechanisms have been and still are necessary to protect one's self or one's community (physically and mentally), it is also single handedly responsible for causing a magnificent lack of objectivity and understanding of reality. There are many different types of defense mechanisms for different types of situations and they all can have an affect upon cognitive thinking. These defense mechanisms can be triggered when one is threatened with scarcity, believes he is threatened with scarcity, his beliefs which he upholds to protect himself from scarcity are being offended or threatened, or he believes these beliefs are being offended or threatened in some way. Whether or not one is actually being threatened does not necessarily matter, one only has to believe they are being threatened (even if only subconsciously) for these types of defense mechanisms to activate. Once this happens the individual is obviously going to become defensive in one way or another and then becomes prone to error if he over reacts. If he is not in control of his mental rationality he then is unable to look at the situation objectively, this is one main cause of all forms of bias. Because of this the understanding and observation of defense mechanisms must be taught to citizens at a young age to allow them to objectively think.

Scarcity

The problem that scarcity, or the fear of scarcity, creates in the mind is it's capability to activate defense mechanisms and therefore often stunting the success of objectivity in one's mind. Scarcity is the shortage of something that is essential to life, order or health of a civilization, group or individual. With modern technology and information economic scarcity could easily be obliterated with the proper system. What's left is the fear of economic scarcity, psychological scarcity, or the fear of psychological scarcity. The fear of technical scarcity can be quelled with the education of how a technocracy is able to provide for it's civilization. What we call psychological scarcity and the fear of it is a much more complex social issue. A few examples of psychological scarcity are a loss of personal identity or position within a society, rejection from society, lack of love one needs from his family, or incomplete sexual satisfaction with his spouse. The degrees of severity and consequence depend on the situation, the increment of time it lasts and the manner it is dealt with of course. Minor problems that are only temporary may often be able to work themselves out naturally, but the intermediate and serious problems, if not dealt with correctly, may grow and have lasting negative effects on the individual and his community. In extreme cases when someone is traumatized from an event or a prolonged exposure to psychological scarcity permanent mental damage can result. However, these issues need to be dealt with in a separate article. The first and most important step in reducing all types of psychological scarcity to the minimum is prevention. This is first done by building a healthy social environment and providing social education to the citizenry.

Thinking Versus Feeling Personality Types

Everyone has and needs both a thinking and feeling element in their personality to make proper decisions, but in every individual one element usually out weighs the other. A person whose personality type is dominated by thinking comes to conclusions using facts and logic; one whose personality type is dominated by feeling bases his decisions more or less on emotion and social standards. The obvious problem this brings up with personality types dominated by the feeling element is that their environment easily manipulates them. In our current society, those whose minds are dominated by a thinking personality type are greatly overwhelmed by those of feeling because of pure numbers. This largely explains the amount and continuance of corruption and manipulation in our civilizations. It isn't a matter of eliminating the feeling element in our personalities, but to understand them to gain self-control and to build our thinking side to be it's strongest.

Education Brings Awareness

Our goal on this issue is to simply put social awareness programs into the schools of our youth to a very high degree. This in itself will open and advance children's minds like never before. The two reasons why this education is not being taught to a significant degree right now is because of what society has come to think of education (due to socialization), and on the more sinister side, it isn't being taught to a significant degree to limit critical thinking so that those in power can keep their power. The Forward Guard declares that it is time for a revolution of education.
 
slingblade said:
Nope. You forgot to account for the fact that English doesn't have rules, but guidelines. (Arrrrr!) Infinitives get split all the time. Star Trek would na be the same wi'out it, lad.

Why, we even use prepositions to end sentences with. And we begin with contractions. Sentence fragments? Use them all the time.

Making English usage rigid is what makes people hate English. They're smart enough, they read, and they know the things we tell them not to do get done by highly paid authors all the time.

If I get to student teach this fall, my theme for my classes will be "context." In the proper context, one can do almost anything. :)
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I only pointed out that it was a split infinitive; I made no judgment about its propriety. Critical thinking is about analysis, not always or solely judgment.
 
blakehaydn said:
Here is the original post, I tried sending it in PM but it was too long.

Social Science And Critical Thinking

The key in (to?) understanding social problems and how to eliminate them to advance civilization is to be both educated in social science and to poses(s) the ability to critically think.(That 's two keys) In this article we (who dat?) will explain a few extremely important psychological phenomena and their relation to vital social health, (;?)we will also discuss the importance of critical thinking and objectivity in attaining vital social health. It is important to note that even the average citizen (who he?)needs to be educated in the concepts of this article at a relatively young age to reach both optimal social health as an individual, and proper identity with his society. (Mind me asking how old "we" are?)

Objectivity And Socialization

Socialization is a psychological term to describe the process of learning the behavior patterns that are in conformity to the values of one's society or group. (Actually, you just gave the definition of the label "socialization") To put it simply, when one is fully socialized in his society or group he shares and acts on common values to what is accepted in that society or group to which he belongs, and likewise, opposes himself to ideas that are not acceptable to them. ( "one" , "him" or "them". Choose one & stick to it)Therefore, if the social standards that he adheres to bring error in some way or another he then has great trouble being objective ("enough?")to come to the proper decision, even if he is a very intelligent person. [Can you clarify - do you mean if he moves to another group or if his group's situation changes, or some other option?]He will usually still believe he is right on the matter at hand, but that is because he is blinded by unhealthy socialization.[Or the rule is no longer applicable- see previous comment] The precise reason why he is unable to react to this opposing situation [ what opposing situation?] objectively is because of a defense mechanism being activated in his brain in response to the offense of his beliefs, beliefs which conformed to his socialization. Ultimately, the key is to socialize our citizens into becoming objective and critical thinkers (pardon the redundancy)[ There is none. One may be critical without being objective]. This will naturally promote social health of the community and psychological freedom for each individual [What makes you so sure?] Some psychologists originally thought [Source?] that the true self of an individual was subconsciously and constantly battling his socialized personality. Though this usually may be true in present and past societies, a person who is completely aware of all these psychological phenomena that come to play then has the opportunity to distinguish and express the truth (is) if his ability to apply critical thought is advanced enough.[What if he is simply not smart enough? ] This isn't to say that it can't be done without psychological knowledge, as many individuals have proven throughout time by knowing one's self (at least to a significant degree), but (with) this knowledge brings faster and more precise learning of self and community. In the end, bias or erroneous socialization is one of the main factors in social regression, [regression of a society or of an individual with one?]especially when individuals who have a "feeling" personality type are in the picture as opposed to a "thinking" personality type.

Psychological Defense Mechanism

Earlier we [ What is it with the "we"?]mentioned an instance of the activation of a defense mechanism and it is important to have a fair grasp on the workings of these. Though psychological defense mechanisms have been and still are necessary to protect one's self or one's community (physically and mentally), it is also single handedly responsible for causing a magnificent lack of objectivity and understanding of reality. [As is switching from plural to singular half way through a sentence]There are many different types of defense mechanisms for different types of situations and they all can have an affect upon cognitive thinking. These defense mechanisms can be triggered when one is threatened with scarcity, believes he is threatened with scarcity, [grr..]his beliefs which he upholds to protect himself from scarcity are being offended or threatened, or he believes these beliefs are being offended or threatened in some way. Whether or not one is actually being threatened does not necessarily matter, one only has to believe they are being threatened (even if only subconsciously) for these types of defense mechanisms to activate. Once this happens the individual is obviously going to become defensive in one way or another and then becomes prone to error if he over reacts. If he is not in control of his mental rationality he then is unable to look at the situation objectively, this is one main cause of all forms of bias. Because of this the understanding and observation of defense mechanisms must be taught to citizens at a young age to allow them to objectively think.

Scarcity

The problem that scarcity, or the fear of scarcity, creates in the mind is it's capability to activate defense mechanisms and therefore often stunting the success of objectivity in one's mind. Scarcity is the shortage of something that is essential to life, order or health of a civilization, group or individual. With modern technology and information economic scarcity could easily be obliterated with the proper system. What's left is the fear of economic scarcity, psychological scarcity, or the fear of psychological scarcity. The fear of technical scarcity can be quelled with the education of how a technocracy is able to provide for it's civilization. What we call psychological scarcity and the fear of it is a much more complex social issue. A few examples of psychological scarcity are a loss of personal identity or position within a society, rejection from society, lack of love one needs from his family, or incomplete sexual satisfaction with his spouse. The degrees of severity and consequence depend on the situation, the increment of time it lasts and the manner it is dealt with of course. Minor problems that are only temporary may often be able to work themselves out naturally, but the intermediate and serious problems, if not dealt with correctly, may grow and have lasting negative effects on the individual and his community. In extreme cases when someone is traumatized from an event or a prolonged exposure to psychological scarcity permanent mental damage can result. However, these issues need to be dealt with in a separate article. The first and most important step in reducing all types of psychological scarcity to the minimum is prevention. This is first done by building a healthy social environment and providing social education to the citizenry.

Thinking Versus Feeling Personality Types

Everyone has and needs both a thinking and feeling element in their personality to make proper decisions, but in every individual one element usually out weighs the other. A person whose personality type is dominated by thinking comes to conclusions using facts and logic; one whose personality type is dominated by feeling bases his decisions more or less on emotion and social standards. The obvious problem this brings up with personality types dominated by the feeling element is that their environment easily manipulates them. In our current society, those whose minds are dominated by a thinking personality type are greatly overwhelmed by those of feeling because of pure numbers. This largely explains the amount and continuance of corruption and manipulation in our civilizations. It isn't a matter of eliminating the feeling element in our personalities, but to understand them to gain self-control and to build our thinking side to be it's strongest.

Education Brings Awareness

Our goal on this issue is to simply put social awareness programs into the schools of our youth to a very high degree. This in itself will open and advance children's minds like never before. The two reasons why this education is not being taught to a significant degree right now is because of what society has come to think of education (due to socialization), and on the more sinister side, it isn't being taught to a significant degree to limit critical thinking so that those in power can keep their power. The Forward Guard declares that it is time for a revolution of education.
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It would take too long to go through the whole thing. I think you could make your message clearer by attention to some minor points of style and usage.
Looks to me like you're saying assumptions made by society screw individuals up , especially if the assumptions turn out to be wrong, the situation changes, or the individual has to move to another group. It would be better if people were made aware that the assumptions may be wrong and that it's a good idea to think about stuff like that.

I wouldn't argue- but consider that what is good for a group or society may possibly not be good for an individual within it or that what is good for one society may by definition be bad for another - especially where there is competition for resources. (People may be resources).
 
Maybe blakehaydn's analysis addresses this at some point, but I've not yet been too convinced that a homo sapiens-centric view is the last word. I could probably sit and imagine a world without *human* scarcity or fear that is constructed on an unhealthy relationship with the local or global environment that could be a problem in the long term. But on the other hand, humans have little choice but to pursue health and well-being and to attempt to thrive. I could see how choices about how to interact with plant, animals, the waterways, minerals are also results of a belief system and a product of human socialization practices. But it seems likely at some point that (perhaps only local) human scarcity will need to be an accepted result, if the alternative is depletion of resources or irreparable damage to an ecosystem. This sort of decision is hard to make and would it not seem reasonable to think capable of starting wars? It's hard to avoid politics even in these big-picture speculations about ideal human situations. OK, sorry for the 2 cents but this did get me thinking a bit.
 
Zep said:
I actually doubt Blake wrote one word of that screed.
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If not, then he's modelled his own writing and thinking after the author's. The vocabulary and style seem the same; lots of words thrown in with no real feeling for their meaning. The style seems hasty, like it's summarizing what the audience already thinks, using the same keywords. Like, for example, a speaker at a neo-Nazi rally. Just to grab a random example out of nowhere.
 
TragicMonkey said:
"To critically think" is a split infinitive.

Critical enough?
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IIRC, the modern editorial position recognizes that the ban on split infinitives in English derives from the fact (or so I read) that, in Latin, infinitives cannot be split as they are a single word, and old English (not Old English) lexicographers mistakenly decided Englilsh should therefore not split them, either.

Hence there is nothing wrong with splitting them.

Similar issues arise for a dangling preposition, those are the things, umm, of which dreams are made.
 
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